La Famiglia! Sons of Italy celebrates 70 years in Wakefield

In a town of 26,000, where an estimated 10,000 residents are of Italian decent, Wakefield owes a great deal to those who began coming to town around the turn of the century.

Gary Band

In a town of 26,000, where an estimated 10,000 residents are of Italian decent, Wakefield owes a great deal to those who began coming to town around the turn of the century. And in honor of Labor Day — and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the William Paca Men’s Lodge and the Wakefield Women’s Lodge — the Observer spoke to some members of the now named (since 1969) Order Sons of Italy Lodge 1734 about the work they’ve done and the lives they’ve made in the town they love.

“My story is pretty typical of the Italian-American experience,” said lodge vice president Arthur Guardia, who works as a controller for a company in Peabody. He and his wife Maria have been members of the lodge for a year and lived in Wakefield since 1995.

The first person in his family to attend college and earn a degree, Guardia said his father was a steel worker and his mother was a seamstress.

“I always recall a house filled with relatives and neighbors, especially on Sunday afternoons,” he said. “The food and wine were always plentiful.”

Guardia said both his parents belonged to labor unions and loved JFK. “Growing up, I never thought about being rich or poor, I only remember the unconditional love. What I’ve learned is that the most important things in life are faith, family and friends.”

Like his parents, Guardia said he and Maria are very active in the community. And, after their two children graduated college, they were looking for an organization that shared their values and allowed them to give back to the community.

“The Sons of Italy is a perfect fit for us,” he said. “It’s just a great group of people.”

As one of some 700 state and local lodges nationwide, together forming one of the oldest and largest fraternal organizations in the country, the Wakefield lodge and its 150 members has joined with the national organization established in 1905 in promoting immigration legislation and assisting in the assimilation process.

They also hold many social events, encourage educational achievement through scholarships and raise money for local organizations such as the Fourth of July Committee, the Council on Aging, Riverside Community Care, and the Epilepsy Chapter of Wakefield, to name just a few of their charitable endeavors.

On the national level in total, The Sons of Italy Foundation has given more than $93 million to medical research, disaster relief and scholarships since 1959.

Joe Racamato has been the lodge president for the past four years and lived in Wakefield since 1944. A salesman for a food distributor for the past 57 years, he also helps out at the family-owned LAR Service Center on Albion Street started by his late brother, Louis.

A Navy veteran of the Korean War, Racamato — whose father was a shoeworker at a factory where Shaw’s now stands — said the Italians of Wakefield were soldiers and sailors, business owners, factory workers, bricklayers, masons, construction workers and contractors.

When he came to town, he said there were corner stores owned by Italians on every block. Over the years, markets like Ripa’s grew in size and eventually Farmland, also owned by Italians, came to town in 1980.

Racamato said well-known families include the Ripas, the Longos, Cantos, DeCeccas and Benedettos, one of whom, Jennie, married the late three-term governor and later Secretary of Transportation, John Volpe.

Racamoto and his wife Rosemarie have four kids and eight grandkids.

In addition to all the events the lodge holds, Racamato said they have also taken a couple of trips, one to Italy. “We never had a bad meal,” he said. “The people were very friendly and the wine was great. It has no sulfites and it’s cheaper than Coke.”

Luco Dinanna is a past lodge president and a retired mechanical engineer who grew up in Everett and moved to Wakefield in 1961. His father was an immigrant laborer and his brother was a Wakefield police officer.

A graduate of Northeastern Univeristy and a lieutenant in the Army from 1960-’62, Dinanna was also the only one in his family to attend college. “I was the youngest and the luckiest,” he said. “We had no money, but my father was able to make a living, make wine and have a garden.”

Reflecting on what the Italian community contributed to the United States in general and to Wakefield in particular, Dinanna said it “brought the family tradition and the ways of the old country and spread that among friends and neighbors. ‘Come, sit down and have something to eat and drink,’ we said.”

Of the lodge, he said it has extended the size and increased the connections among the greater Italian community of Wakefield. “We have a lot of members, but at these functions we have, everyone brings their kids and family members. It increases the cameraderie and brings us all closer together. When I think about Labor Day I think of all the people who built this town and I thank them.”

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